FORT HOOD, TX – December 8, 2017: The United States Army Garrison Fort Hood (USAG Fort Hood) and the Central Texas Council of Governments (CTCOG) recently signed a Joint Use Agreement (JUA) for the purpose of implementing Fort Hood Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) recommendations and promoting land use compatibility with regional partners. The JUA is process-centric and focused on the long-term sustainment of military missions at Fort Hood. It addresses joint collaboration mechanisms, including land use opinions; procedures for monitoring the impacts of alternative energy initiatives; use of a regional Geographic Information System (GIS) database to facilitate land use evaluations; and encourages local governments to adopt plans, policies and regulations that mitigate incompatible development in areas of encroachment concern around the installation.
The JUA is an important milestone in the Fort Hood JLUS implementation process, which CTCOG is managing for the regional partners through a grant provided by the Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA). The implementation process began immediately following the completion of the Fort Hood JLUS in December 2016, and sustains the momentum to promote compatible growth and cooperation between Fort Hood and regional partners. The formal implementation process will continue through September 2018, with CTCOG and its consultants, Benchmark Planning, which also led the consulting team for the JLUS, working with local governments and regional partners to develop and implement context specific compatible growth policies through updates to comprehensive plans and land use regulations and state legislative initiatives.
“There is a long history of coordination and collaboration between Fort Hood and the surrounding local governments to address issues of mutual importance and concern”, said Colonel Henry C. Perry, Jr., Garrison Commander, USAG Fort Hood. “We look forward to building on these relationships to conduct prudent planning that will help ensure compatible growth and development in the future.”
“Fort Hood is the center of our region and its value cannot be overstated”, said Jim Reed, Executive Director, CTCOG. “CTCOG has a decades long relationship with Fort Hood and the JUA strengthens that relationship. Central Texas is one of the fastest growing regions in one of the fastest-growing states in the country and the JUA provides structure as Fort Hood and regional partners collaborate in this dynamic environment.”
Fort Hood is the home of the United States Army’s III Corps, 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, and numerous tenant units and commands, with over 30,000 assigned military service members and over 10,000 Department of Defense civilian employees and contractors. The installation contains nearly 220,000 acres of land (340 sq. miles), including nearly 170,000 acres of maneuver training areas and ranges, as well as two major airfields that support combat aviation training and power projection. Fort Hood’s tenant and visiting aviation units also make use of the off-site Western Training Area that spans central Texas from Fort Hood to San Angelo located 150 miles to the west. Fort Hood is also one of the Army’s premiere power projection platforms, serving as the training and mobilization site for National Guard and Army Reserve component units deploying overseas, as well as the home to the Operational Test Command, which is responsible for the testing and evaluation of combat equipment before it is fielded to operational units.
Additional information about the Fort Hood Joint Land Use Study and the implementation initiative, as well as the Joint Use Agreement and a recent regional economic analysis, is available on the project website: www.forthood-jlus.org.